President Biden Reportedly Asking Congress For $670 Million To End The HIV/AIDS Pandemic
On top of the coronavirus pandemic, President Biden is gearing up to tackle another public health crisis – this time for good!
According to The Hill, The Biden administration is requesting $670 million from Congress to address the public health crisis. With the money, they plan to “help accelerate and strengthen efforts to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the United States.”
As the news site notes, $400 million has been appropriated annually for the program since 2019. But in his preliminary budget request to Congress for fiscal year 2022, Biden is asking for an additional $267 million to tackle this crisis. To note, the initiative was launched under Biden’s predecessor with the goal of reducing new HIV infections by 90 percent by 2030. However, Biden campaigned on an even bigger goal of ending the epidemic by 2025, The Hill reports.
According to the HHS, an estimated 1.2 million people in the U.S. are living with HIV today. Roughly one in seven don’t know of their diagnosis.